[Dialogue] Calling the Question - In the House - on Impeaching Cheney

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Friday, November 2, 2007 by The
<http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=248000>  Nation 

Calling the Question - In the House - on Impeaching Cheney

by John Nichols

Broadcast media's gate-keeping "stars" have done just about everything in
their power to keep the matter of presidential accountability off the radar
of the American people. That was evident during the most recent Democratic
presidential debate, when NBC anchors Brian Williams and Tim Russert
meticulously avoided following up on Congressman Dennis Kucinich's three
references to impeachment but somehow found time to grill the contenders on
UFOs and what costume Barack Obama would be wearing on Halloween.

Pollsters are almost as bad. Rarely are questions about impeachment included
in statewide or national surveys.

Despite the lack of media coverage, however, when citizens are asked what
they think about holding members of the Bush administration to account, they
respond with an enthusiasm far greater than that displayed for impeaching
Richard Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal. It is this reality -
as opposed to the state of denial fostered by so much of the media and the
political class - that Congressman Dennis Kucinich will act upon next week,
when he offers a privileged resolution on the House floor to bring articles
of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Kucinich will face an uphill fight in a chamber led by House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, the California Democrat who continues to say that impeachment is
"off the table."

The Ohio congressman and long-shot presidential contender may not be
following the rules of engagement as dictated by major media and his party
leaders. But when Kucinich raises the issue of impeachment, he will be
speaking for a great mass of Americans who agree with his argument that,
"Congress must hold the Vice President accountable."

How great?

A fresh poll conducted for Vermont's WCAX television station finds that
citizens of that state enthusiastically believe that Congress beginning
impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

Sixty-one percent of the Vermonters surveyed favor taking steps to impeach
the president, while just 33% oppose doing so.

The numbers are even higher for impeaching Cheney. Sixty-four percent of
Vermonters favor beginning the process of holding the vice president to
account, where only 31 percent are opposed.

The greater level of support for impeaching Cheney parallels the few
nationwide figures that have been ascertained. When the American Research
Group conducted a national survey in early July of this year, it found that
54 percent of American adults wanted the House to begin impeachment
proceedings against Cheney - with 76 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of
independents and a striking 17 percent of Republicans favoring the step.

Forty-six percent of Americans surveyed backed impeachment proceedings
against Bush - with support for impeachment at 69 percent among Democrats,
50 percent among independents and 13 percent among Republicans.

What is notable is that, when Time magazine surveyed Americans in the late
spring of 1974, after the Watergate scandal had evolved into a full-scale
crisis of confidence in Nixon's presidency, only 43 percent favored
impeachment.

A media that actually had a sense of history, not to mention reality, would
focus on the fact that Americans are more supportive of a congressional
intervention to thwart Bush and Cheney's wrongdoing than they were of moves
to hold Nixon to account just months before the former president resigned in
disgrace.

Now, it falls to Kucinich to speak the reality that, "The momentum is
building for impeachment. Millions of citizens across the nation are
demanding Congress rein in the Vice President's abuse of power."

Says the congressman, "Despite this groundswell of opposition to the
unconstitutional conduct of office, Vice President Cheney continues to
violate the U.S. Constitution by insisting the power of the executive branch
is supreme. The Vice President continues to use his office to advocate for a
continued occupation of Iraq and prod our nation into a belligerent stance
against Iran. If the Vice President is successful, his actions will ensure
decades of disastrous consequences."

Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Cheney several months
ago, and his H. Res. 333 has attracted almost two dozen co-sponsors. All
Democrats, they are Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Robert Brady (D-PA), Yvette Clarke
(D-NY), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Keith
Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), Rep. Sheila
Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Henry Johnson (D-GA), Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick
(D-MI), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. James Moran
(D-VA), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Edolphus
Towns (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA), Rep. Lynn
Woolsey (D-CA) and Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD).

Frustrated by the refusal of Democratic leaders to set up a process for
holding hearings on his proposal, Kucinich will use an arcane House rule
allowing for the prodding of the process with privileged resolutions to try
and force consideration. Once introduced, a privileged resolution must be
addressed within two legislative days.

Kucinich is expected to offer his privileged resolution on Tuesday. He
expects to continue pushing it until the House acts. That action is likely
to be a successful move by Democratic leaders to table the measure. Such a
vote could be instructive, however, in that it would provide a rare measure
of the willingness of at least some House members to respond to the popular
will - which is that Dick Cheney be held to account.

C 2007 The Nation

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org 

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/02/4988/

 

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